A Different Journey
by shadow12
Summary: A response to MathiasNightlord01's 'Different Starter Challenge'. What if Ash wanted to be a master of the Dragon Type? What if his First Pokemon wasn't Pikachu, and instead something else entirely? Follow Ash in his journey to be the best of the best. His journey to become a master! AshXCynthia
1. Chapter 1

**Okay everyone, I was browsing the Pokémon area of the sight and I ran across the 'Different Starter' Challenge from MathiasNightlord01 and decided to take it. So I hope I'm able to do as well with Pokémon fics as I do with my Naruto ones.**

**Though, I should probably mention that I'm going to be using gen 6 Pokédex data and Pokémon from every region.**

**Anyhow here are the requirements for the challenge.**

1.) Ash is smarter and more knowledgeable about the Pokémon World and Pokémon Training before setting out on his Journey.

2.) Ash must be male, no Gender bending or Yaoi themes allowed

3.) Since Ash is smarter in the story, his Pokémon won't disobey his orders like Charizard in cannon

4.) Ash must age and grow in this story

5.) The clothes he wears to Unova are banned (because I don't like his Unova design)

6.) Captures more Pokémon than he does in cannon and rotates them out to train all of them.

7.) Captures a least few Shiny Pokémon (In the type he specializes in)

8.) Captures at least some of the Legendary Pokémon he encounters in the movies and anime series (In the type he specializes in)

9.) Shiny Pokémon are about 5 times stronger than Normal Pokémon of their species

10.) All Pokémon must NOT be limited to 4 four moves but can learn any amount of moves that they are able to learn from their move sets from both the games and anime and retain those moves after learning them. Under no circumstances are the Pokémon's moves to be limited, be it League Rules, Gym Battles, Contests, or Grand Festival Rules, I've seen it done before and it just makes the battles boring and repetitive, they are to have full access to the all the moves they can moves they learn in ALL battles

11.) All moves MUST come from the games, the anime, or the Movies. Moves from the Pokémon TCG (Trading Card Game) are not allowed.

12.) All Pokémon Myths and Legends must be consistent with that of the Anime and Movies.

13.) Ash must have more of his Pokémon fully evolve.

Pairing: AshXCynthia (younger)

Ages: Ash-13, Cynthia-13

**Disclaimer: in no way do I own any of the Pokémon franchises.**

**3/24/14 Edit: Thank you SighDuck for editing the grammar, I meant to get this out earlier than I did but works been crazy.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Partners Meet.**

"Are you absolutely sure you don't have any other Pokémon, Professor?"

Recently turned thirteen year old Ash Ketchum was in distress. There were several reasons for this; first, he had woken up late this morning because he had somehow ended up breaking his alarm clock during the night, and now he arrived at Professor Oak's lab only to find out that all the Pokémon available for new trainers had already been picked. Even the Charmander he had so desperately wanted.

Ever since he was little, Ash had wanted to become a master of Dragon Type Pokémon. Especially after witnessing several battles of the Kanto region's champion, Lance, who was one of if not the best dragon tamer in the world. Ash couldn't really explain it, but Dragon types had always had a special appeal to him. Their grace both on and off the battle field and the power they exuded were only a few of the things that drew him to those types of Pokémon. On top of that, Lance had become his idol since the first time he saw him battle on TV and it was one of Ash's dreams to face the man in an all out, six on six, Dragon against Dragon battle.

It was why he had spent most of his free time in recent years studying up on all the different types of Pokémon, especially Dragons and draconic like Pokémon. He knew the starter Pokémon that was the closest to a dragon type was Charmander and its final evolution of Charizard. But he'd missed his chance, all because he'd slept in that morning, and right now he would settle for any Pokémon, even if it wasn't the one he wanted.

Ash was sure he'd come across a wild Charmander at some point in his journey. Ash felt tears stinging his eyes as he watched the aged form of Professor Oak rub his chin with a contemplative look.

"I'm sorry Ash," the professor started, "but right at this moment I have no other Pokémon available for new trainers." Ash's head dropped in despair. That was it; his dreams were over before they could even have a chance of starting.

"However," he heard Oak speak again and his head snapped up, a small gleam of hope in his eyes.

"While I don't have any that you could use, there's a chance that one of my colleagues from one of the other regions might have a suitable Pokémon for you." Ash's eyes widened in surprise before a bright grin took root on his face.

"Thank you professor! I really appreciate this!" he exclaimed in excitement, nearly jumping up and down in joy. Oak chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. It was refreshing in a way, and it reminded him of himself when he was younger.

"It's quite alright my boy," said the good professor. "Now, why don't you go home and change, while I go and check with my colleagues? I really don't think you plan on starting your journey in your pajamas," he remarked, highly amused.

Ash looked down at his clothes and blushed. He was indeed wearing his pajamas. Throwing a hasty thanks the professor's way, Ash practically threw himself out of the lab, eager to both avoid anymore embarrassment and get back quickly so he could meet his new Pokémon partner.

Oak chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the young teen go before turning and walking into his office_. 'Now, let's see about that Pokémon,'_ he mused as he sat in front of his phone, pressing first several buttons and then the dial.

He waited for several moments before the faces of his colleagues appeared on the video screen before him.

The first was a young man in his mid to late twenties with short brown hair that had a few spikes at the top and glasses over his eyes. The second was a man that looked to be roughly the same age, but his hair was a darker shade of brown and merged with the beard that covered the lower half of his face. Next was a man that looked to be even older than Professor Oak with a somewhat intimidating face. All of his hair was grey, even the thick mustache that rested on his upper lip. The fourth face to appear was that of a young woman in her early twenties with chestnut colored hair and light green eyes; she also had red diamond shaped earrings hanging from her ears. The final face to appear was that of a fairly young man with wavy black hair and a stubble covered chin.

Oak smiled slightly at his colleagues from around the world. These five were the top most experts of Pokémon research in their regions.

They were: Professor Elm from Johto who specialized in the breeding of Pokémon; Professor Birch of Hoenn specializing in various Pokémon habitats; Professor Rowan of Sinnoh who studied Pokémon evolution; Professor Juniper of Unova studying in the origins of Pokémon, and finally; Professor Sycamore from Kalos who specialized in the recently discovered Mega Evolutions of various Pokémon species.

The first to speak was of course Professor Elm, who gave a happy greeting to his former teacher, "Hello Samuel! It's been quite some time since you rang. What is it you need of me?"

"Yes, I am wondering the same thing, what is so important that you needed to call all of us all at once, Oak?" this time it was the gruff voice of Professor Rowan that spoke up before Kanto's professor had the chance to reply.

Oak rolled his eyes at the Sinnoh professor, and responded before the others could interrupt him. "Hello everyone, it is nice to see you all again. However, there is a matter of importance that I must speak to you about and…I need a favor."

Everyone's expressions became serious at the look on Oak's face and they nodded for him to continue. Oak grinned to himself, and explained what he needed.

**Several minutes later**

"Professor Oak, I'm back!" Ash called as he walked back into the lab, now dressed in his traveling clothes.

Oak grinned as he turned away from the transfer machine with a Pokeball clutched in his hand, courtesy of Professor Rowan. "I see that my boy and I must say; you are quite lucky that I was able to find an available Pokémon for you."

Ash's grin grew when he heard that, his dreams were secure now! He couldn't help it, but his eyes trailed over to the Pokeball in Oak's hand and locked onto it.

Oak saw this and chuckled before he held it out to the boy in front of him. "Go ahead Ash. Open it and say hello to your Pokémon."

Gently, as if he was scared he would break it; Ash took the red and white sphere out of the professor's hand and opened it for the first time. In a bright flash of light, the Pokémon inside appeared before the rookie trainer and Oak.

Ash nearly fell on his back in surprise when he saw what appeared. The Pokémon was a small pudgy creature with a large mouth lined with pointed teeth. It had no neck and its arms were short and stubby and started at the sides of the Pokémon's jaws. It was dark blue in color with a red underbelly that covered it from its abdomen to the underside of its jaws. On either side of its head were two horns that greatly resembled the engines of a jet or a plane, each of which had a light blue strip running around its center. It also had what looked to be a shark's fin coming out of the top of its head.

"Gi, Gible!" the Pokémon exclaimed as it looked at the young trainer before it.

"A…Gible?" Ash muttered as he looked at the small Pokémon.

He had recognized it almost immediately from his studies, of course. Gible was one of the more sought after Pokémon from Sinnoh for its final form; Garchomp. Hardly anyone ever found it though, as it was extremely rare in the wild.

He couldn't believe it. He was to have a Gible as his starter! A happy smile stretched across his face at the prospect.

Oak watched all this with a smile as he leaned against the machine beside him. He wasn't the least surprised Ash recognized the Pokémon. The boy had spent a lot of time around the lab over the years, especially since his mother often volunteered to help him take care of all the Pokémon he looked after. And as a result, Oak knew of Ash's fascination with dragon types.

"That's right," he said, drawing the boy's attention. "I was lucky enough to find that Professor Rowan came across Gible here wondering around aimlessly when he was returning to Sandgem Town a month ago. From what he could gather, her trainer abandoned her because she wasn't evolving." He finished with more than a little disappointment in his voice.

Ash nodded to him as he processed the information. Trainers who abandoned their Pokémon just because they weren't strong enough absolutely disgusted him.

To Ash being a trainer meant being a person who would make a weak Pokémon stronger by actually training it. Being a trainer meant a person was to bond with their Pokémon through their training; that way both trainer and Pokémon learned to trust in each other. A Pokémon battle was a fifty-fifty split after all. The Pokémon would have the moves and battle prowess, while the trainer possessed the strategy and the knowhow of when to enact it and when to use the proper attacks. Without trust between trainer and Pokémon, they would be unable to properly work together when the situation called for it, and against someone who had the trust of their own Pokémon plus the proper tactics and mind set, that same lack of trust could very well come at the cost of an important battle.

As he came out of his thoughts, Ash looked down to his new Pokémon to see that it was looking down and had a few tears emerging from the corner of its eyes. Eyes widening at the sight, Ash quickly knelt in front of it and gently placed his hand on its head. Feeling it stiffen under his touch caused Ash to frown slightly but he quickly shook it off as it looked up to him, obvious fear in its eyes.

"Hey there little one," he said smiling gently to the little creature. "I don't know about what you went through before now, but you'll be safe with me and I will never abandon you. That much I promise you," he spoke softly to it.

The Pokémon looked at its new trainer with no small amount of skepticism before its eyes lit up in joy and it jumped on top of Ash's head.

Ash almost fell over again as it landed but managed to steady himself and laughed quietly as Gible settled itself on top of his hat.

Oak watched all this with a bit of awe. _'This boy,'_ he thought as he watched Ash stand up, grinning up at the little Pokémon, _'to be able to comfort a Pokémon with just a few words. There's something special about you, Ash.'_ Oak cleared his throat to draw the duo's attention. "I almost forgot, but you're going to need these," he said, reaching into his pocket and drawing out a few items before once again holding his hands out to Ash.

Ash reached over and took five empty and miniaturized Pokeballs and a metallic looking device. Seeing his questioning look, Professor Oak chuckled and explained. "That little device there is a Pokédex; it allows you to record the information of any Pokémon you may run across. Normally I would give you the Kanto Dex, but considering your special situation, I decided to give you a National Dex as it'll serve you the same purposes, but it'll include the information of Pokémon from other regions as well. Who knows, you might be able to find a few Pokémon who aren't native to this area on your journey."

Ash nodded to him as he pocketed the Pokeballs, but instead of doing the same with the Pokédex, he reached up and lifted Gible from his head and set it on the floor before opening the Pokédex and hitting the button that said scan.

There was a brief pause before a small ding rang from the small device and a robotic voice filtered through the speaker.

**_"Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. It nests in horizontal holes warmed by geothermal heat. It pounces to catch prey that stray too close. This Gible is female and has the ability Rough Skin. Currently, this Gible knows the attacks; Tackle, Sand Attack, Dragon Rage and Take Down." _**

Ash whistled in amazement. "That's a good move set," he said and looked down at his starter, who he noticed had a small red hue dusting her cheeks at the praise from her trainer. Ash grinned happily and picked Gible up, holding her to his chest as he turned to the Professor beside him.

"Well, I should get going Professor. Thanks again!" he said, racing out the door as Gible snuggled into his chest.

The professor could only chuckle again as he watched the excited trainer and Pokémon run out to begin their adventure.

xXx

Sometime later we find our young protagonist walking down Route One, his new Pokémon sleeping quietly on his head as the sun slowly sank in the sky.

When the raven-haired trainer reached the top of a particularly steep hill, he stopped and ran a hand across his forehead to rid himself of the accumulated sweat, carefully as to not disturb his sleeping partner_. 'Man, for early spring, it sure is hot. I'm kinda envious of Gible right now; at least she can stand the heat,'_ he thought before eyeing a shady patch of grass beneath a tree and deciding to make camp for the approaching night.

Removing his backpack, Ash set it down next to him before plopping himself down under the shade. Reaching up, he carefully lifted Gible from his head and moved her to his lap instead before reaching into his backpack and drawing out a bottle of water.

He sighed when he felt it was warm, but he popped the lid off anyway and took a long drink. Sighing contently as he felt the water wet his parched throat, Ash placed his hand on Gible's side and gently shook her awake.

The small Dragon/Ground type blinked her eyes blearily as she stirred and looked up to her trainer, wondering why she had been woken from her peaceful sleep. Her question was promptly answered when Ash held the half empty water bottle out to her.

Gible got the message without any words passing between them and eagerly took the bottle and downed the rest of the water in one massive gulp. Ash chuckled at the sight and simply leaned back on the tree as he stared out at the field before them, where several Pidgey were pecking the ground in search for a meal in the late evening light.

Gible turned in her trainer's lap to watch the small flock in wonder. The Pokémon in Kanto were strange to the small Dragon and they fascinated her. To her they were strange and exotic compared to what she was used to back in Sinnoh. Even though Pidgey were pretty common in Sinnoh as well, Gible had always assumed that they were exclusive to Sinnoh.

Her life had been altered beyond comprehension since she was captured.

Her eyes darkened as she remembered the day that her first _trainer_ had caught her, but before any memories could make their way through Gible's mind, she heard her new, and hopefully permanent trainer, speak.

"You know," Ash said and Gible quickly turned her attention to him. "I've wanted to be a Dragon Master ever since I could remember. I can't really explain why, but something about them has always drawn me to them; their beauty, grace, intellect and power are only a few of the things that I find so alluring about them. For years now, I've idolized Lance and the other dragon masters of the world, but Lance has always been my role model. All I've ever wanted to do was follow in his footsteps and raise dragon types. I do plan on catching other types of Pokémon to balance out my teams, but dragons always have and always will be my passion."

Gible stared at her trainer in amazement as he turned his head to her with a smile. "I'll need your help with that Gible," he said, much to her surprise. "I won't pretend to know what you went through with your other trainer. But I know this much, if we stick together then we will achieve all our goals, all of our dreams! It'll take a lot of hard work, but we will rise to be the strongest team and take on and win the leagues of every region!" Ash exclaimed with a passionate fire in his eyes.

Gible stared at her trainer in awe as he told her all this, and felt herself inclined to believe in his words. It was as if Ash didn't just think that they would be the strongest, he knew they would be the strongest.

For the first time since her abandonment, Gible felt something rise in her heart, something warm and comforting.

A feeling of hope.

Gible smiled brightly and nodded excitedly. "Gi! Gi! Gible!" she exclaimed and jumped onto Ash's head.

Ash laughed happily as both he and Gible watched as the sun set in the distance. Little did they know though, they were being watched by an invisible presence. This presence had watched all this with a proud smile and it nodded as it made to leave.

_'You have started along your path to strength, Chosen One. With your kind and passionate heart and your ability to crack even the coldest of hearts I have no doubt that you will rise to be the greatest of them all. For it is your destiny.'_

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**Cut!**

**Okay so there's the first chapter of A Different Journey. I hope I did a good job and that you all like that Ash has Gible for his starter, I have a few ideas as to what others he will be getting, like most of his originals, minus Pikachu of course, but he will have many more that will take precedence of those he had in cannon.**

**However, I'm going to need your help to decide what other Pokémon Ash will have, like I said I've got a few ideas, but nothing is for sure yet. So either P.M. me your ideas or leave them in a review.**

**Please review.**


	2. Taking The First Steps

**Hey guys and gals, its Shadow12 here with the latest installment of A Different Journey!**

**First of all I would like to thank each and every one of you who reviewed/PMed me on which Pokémon Ash should get. It was with numerous debates and the like that the first five Pokémon were decide, two of which are in this chapter, but the last three will be announced in the closing Author's note and will be pretty spaced out.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokémon or any of the associated franchises.**

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**Chapter 2: Taking The First Steps**

"Stop that thing! We can't afford to allow such a rare Pokémon to escape, not after the trouble we went through to catch it the first time!"

He ran, as fast as he could on his stubby legs. He couldn't even remember how he got into this situation. All that he could though was waking up in a dark room, in a cage, and surrounded by several humans dressed in dark cloths, discussing what they were going to do with him.

Everything after that had been a blur to him before he found himself running through a strange forest in an attempt to escape from his captors. However, he was injured already and couldn't move very fast.

Chancing a quick feel behind him as he could not see by normal means, he suddenly picked up the pace. His captures were right behind him.

"Go, Zubat!"

He suddenly heard two voices calling out the same thing and the cries of the Pokémon's name from different spots behind him.

"Use Shadow Ball!"

He cried out in pain as the attack impacted his back a sent him crashing into a tree.

His captors grinned sinisterly as they stood in front if his defeated form. "Ha-ha, compared to before this thing was easy to recapture! Now Zubats, use another shadow Ball to make sure it doesn't give us any more trouble!" one of them, a woman with long red hair ordered. The other two, one a man with shoulder length blue hair and a Meowth, which was oddly standing on its hind legs and had its front paws crossed infront of its chest.

Sensing the attacks building, he braced himself for the inevitable. However, just before the attacks could launch another voice call out an attack, only this time it wasn't for him.

"Gible, stop them with Dragon Rage!"

**Several minuet's earlier**

Ash smiled and enjoyed the scenery as he walked along the forested path to Viridian City. He'd already seen a few Pokémon along the way, mostly Pidgey and a few Rattata, but they really weren't all that appealing choices for potential captures to him.

Don't get him wrong, Ash knew that he would need a wide variety of Pokémon, to truly have a chance of taking on the Pokémon league, let alone any gyms. He wouldn't be able to rely entirely on dragon types alone and despite his reluctance to admit it, Ash knew it.

Dragon types, while highly superior to most of the basic types, like fire, grass, water and electric types, all shared one major weakness. Ice. All draconic Pokémon, no matter the species or secondary typing, were all weak against Pokémon who were of the ice type; or those that knew ice type attacks.

Then that added to the fact that dragons were at their weakest against fairy types as they completely immune to dragon attacks and steel types where highly resistant to them and Ash knew he could not hope to beat any of the leagues as he was bound to go against a good number of trainers who favored Pokémon of those groups. So, to counter this opposition on his journey, Ash had decided to catch Pokémon of other types and train them all equally, no matter the species or type.

However, that being said, any dragons or dragon like Pokémon he would wind up catching, would be his first picks in any of his battles and if not, there'd be at least one held in reserve. Ash was going to make sure he caught more dragon types than any other on his journey.

It was like he had explained to Gible the night before. Dragon types always were and always would be his specialty and passion.

Ash was startled from his musings when he felt Gible tense on his head and there was a sudden rustling from the bushes to his right.

Imagine his surprise when he saw a yellow mouse like Pokémon, with pointed black tipped ears, three brown stripes down its back, red spots on both its cheeks and a zigzagged tail jump out and start to growl at the due threateningly.

Looking at the little Pokémon curiously Ash pulled his Pokédex and pointed it at the Pokémon as he hit the scan button.

The machine dinged and buzzed out the Pokémon's information.

"_**Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. **__**Pikachu's tail is sometimes **__**struck by lightning **__**as it raises it to check its surroundings. If threatened, it loses electric charges from the sacks on its cheeks. This Pikachu is male, and has the ability Static. Currently this Pikachu knows the attacks; Thunder Shock, Tail Whip, Agility and Quick Attack."**_

"A Pikachu, eh?" Ash muttered, looking up at the yellow mouse.

Said mouse only continued to spark its cheeks and glare at them.

Ash looked up to Gible, who in turn looked down at him. A silent conversation passed between the two before they simultaneously nodded and Gible jumped down from her trainers head to face against the Pikachu.

"Gi, Gible!" she cried in challenge.

Pikachu in turn cried out his own name in acceptance of the challenge. "Pikachu!"

Ash grinned to himself. This was it; time to see if he had what it took to be a Pokémon trainer.

Deciding to start things off, Ash called out the first move. "Okay Gible, use Tackle!"

Gible gave a nod of confirmation before charging at the rodent like Pokémon.

The Pikachu apparently didn't like this much as he suddenly dodged to the side, allowing Gible to run right by him and into a tree before launching his own attack.

His body lit up in a brilliant light as a narrow arc of electricity shot straight towards Gible's downed form. The duel dragon/ground type only grunted as it hit seeing as it was that same combination that made sure the attack hardly affected her.

Ash grimaced when he saw his partner get hit but it quickly turned into a smirk when he saw her getting up, "Hit it with Dragon Rage!"

Gible growled angrily at the rodent in front of her but heeded her trainer's orders and a dark red glow began to emit from her stomach as the draconic energy built with her. It was only a few seconds later that Gible opened her mouth wide and shot a large beam of red energy shaped like that of a dragon's head at her opponent.

The beam raced across the small amount of distance between the two Pokémon faster than Ash could follow and the Pikachu only had time to blink in surprise before it hit him and sent him flying a good dozen feet or so before he crashed against a tree and fell to the ground in a heap. Clearly unconscious.

Ash could only watch this with wide eyes. That dragon rage; it was by far stronger than he had expected it to be from his starter. But then his mind started to think logically. Gible had had a trainer before him, and despite having been abandoned she would have much more battle experience than the average starter would. But still, to take out an opponent with one attack? Putting it lightly, that was simply amazing.

Ash was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Gible tugging on his pants leg and pointing to the unconscious Pokémon.

"Ble! Gi! Gible!" she exclaimed, waving her stubby arm at the downed Pokémon.

Ash got the message and quickly extracted a Pokeball from the confines of his back pocket and enlarged it with a tap of the button at its center and threw it at Pikachu. "Go, Pokeball!"

His aim was true and the Pokeball hit the fainted Pokémon dead center on the forehead. The ball opened and sucked Pikachu inside in a beam of red energy. Once that was done it fell to the dirt ground and began to gently rock from side to side with the center glowing red.

It shook once, twice and a third time before finally stopping and letting off a small 'ping' to signify the capture was complete.

Walking over, Ash picked up the Pokeball, and stared at it momentarily before turning back to Gible as a wide grin made its way to his face.

"Alright we caught a Pikachu!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea you were so powerful Gible. That Dragon Rage was stronger than I expected." He complimented as he turned to his starter.

Gible closed her eyes and flexed her small arms in an attempt to show her strength causing Ash to chuckle at her until they heard a loud pain filled scream ring through the forest. "!"

However, before Ash could react he heard something else, a voice in his head. _'Go, Chosen One. Help my child, and in return he shall be one of your strongest companions.'_

Startled, Ash's eyes narrowed and looked over to Gible. He decided to heed the voice's advice. "Come on! We gotta help who ever that was!" he said and the duo took off.

As he went, Ash didn't notice the small ripple in the air as something moved behind him and the presence that accompanied it. The presence nodded as it watched Ash sprint away.

"_I have given you the necessary tools for you to make your path, young Ash. Now it is your choice on how to move forward." _It said as the rippling stopped and the presence vanished.

Ash sprinted through the forested area as fast as he could in the direction he'd heard the scream come from with Gible right on his heels. For such a small creature like she was, Gible was surprisingly fast.

It only took a few minutes of running for Ash to make out a small clearing up ahead, where he saw two people, a man and a woman if he guessed right, each dressed in a black uniform with a large red R on the front and all of them had two Zubats and a Meowth in front of them, surrounding…something.

As he got closer, he noticed that something was a small Pokémon, heavily battered and bruised and lying at the base of a tree, it looked like it was on its last legs and was only just hanging on to consciousness. What made it worse was that each of the Zubats was charging an attack in the form of a black orb infront of their mouths; Shadow Ball if he remembered his studies correctly.

Eyes widening, Ash quickly ordered Gible into action. "Gible, stop them with Dragon Rage!"

Gible didn't even bother with a response and immediately charged the attack. The red dragon shaped beam once again shot from her mouth not two seconds later and sped through the clearing, hitting the first of the Zubats and then carrying it with it as it continued on to impact the other, sending them flying off somewhere into the forest.

With that, Ash with Gible slightly ahead of him, burst into the clearing. He skid to a halt and stood in front of the injured Pokémon protectively.

He never saw the Pokémon's awed face as it 'felt' him defend him.

xXx

Ash glared at the trio before him, who were by now getting over their shock and realizing what happened.

"How dare you interfere with us!? Get away from here and leave all your Pokémon or we'll force you to!" the woman shouted threateningly.

Ash ignored her for the time being and turned his head to look at the downed Pokémon behind him. "Don't worry." He assured it, noting how strange it looked. It was familiar to him in a way, but he couldn't place where he'd saw it from at the moment. "I'll protect you."

The Pokémon though, 'stared' at the human before it with a surprised look but couldn't help the hopeful feeling that bloomed in its chest at the humans words, and it nodded to show it heard him.

Ash grinned slightly before turning his attention back to the trio dressed in black. "What do you think you're doing!" he questioned angrily. "Ganging up on a Pokémon whose this badly hurt! Just what type of trainers are you!?"

The man sneered in response, "Get lost kid, you can't hope to understand the greatness of Team Rocket!"

"Greatness?" Ash questioned them before he snarled at the man who had spoken. "How is ganging up on an injured Pokémon greatness?! How is attacking them when they're already down greatness?! How can any of that be greatness?!"

Angry looks met his eyes at the question. "Like I said, boy, you wouldn't understand what Team Rocket stands for, so give us your Pokémon and get lost already!" The man retorted.

Ash glared at the men, "and what? Let you continue to beat on innocent Pokémon like this?" he gestured to the Pokémon behind him. "Sorry, but you'll have to get by me first!"

The lone woman of the group smirked and drew out a Pokeball. "If that's what it'll take, then so be it." She said and tossed the ball forward, "Go, Ekans!"

Ekans appeared to be a serpentine like creature that greatly resembled a Rattle Snake in appearance. The only differences were that it was entirely purple, it had a large yellow stripe near its head, and its mouth had no visible teeth and a large round tongue.

Ash raised an eye brow at the small snake like Pokémon but quickly shook it off when the Team Rocket member called for an attack.

"Use Bite Ekans!" as soon as the order was given Ekans shot off like a rocket (no pun intended) at Gible, its mouth glowing a bright white.

Ash growled slightly. "Dodge and then use Sand Attack!"

Gible immediately threw herself to the left and began swiping her hands at the ground, throwing clouds of dust at Ekans and obscuring its sight.

The snake Pokémon growled as some of the sand got into its eyes and started to rub at them with its tail as Gible continued with the attack.

"Shake it off and use Poison Sting!" the woman ordered when she saw this and Ekans quickly followed it's orders as it fired several purple needles from its mouth at Gible from within the sand cloud, however, the attack was slightly to the left of Gible, completely missing her and hitting a nearby tree. Ash grinned to himself; the battle was his.

"Stop and use Take Down!" he ordered.

Instantly, Gible ceased her attack and charged into the cloud of sand as an aurora of golden light surrounded her.

The next thing Ash or the Rocket members heard was a cry of pain from the cloud and Ekans shot out of it, only to land at its trainer's feet; heavily battered and bruised, but still ready for battle.

"Ekans!" It growled angrily as it shakily got up and glared at Gible's form, which was now visible since the Sand Attack had died down.

Gible flinched as the recoil damage of her attack hit, but she shook the pain off and stood ready for more. The last thing she wanted to do now was let her trainer down when it really mattered.

Ash frowned when he saw her flinch and berated himself for being reckless with that last attack. Take Down was a double edged move that hurt both the user and the one it was being used on, and even if the user only took a quarter of the damage the opponent did, using the move was still risky and more than a little reckless.

Had Ash gotten the timing wrong it would have left Gible wide open for a retaliation attack and being as close as she would have been, there would have been no way Ekans would have missed her; leaving her to deal with both the attack's damage plus Take Down's recoil. It didn't help much when she was still injured slightly from her battle with Pikachu earlier either. They were extremely lucky the attack had landed instead of missing to say the least.

He was snapped out of it when Gible turned to him and offered him a thumb up to assure him she could keep going. Nodding to his partner, Ash grinned to himself again and ordered her into action once again.

"End this with another Dragon Rage and give it as much as you got!"

He knew it was probably more than a little over kill to order such an attack, but Ash was not going to take any chances of the other Rocket member getting ideas of calling out any other Pokémon he may have on him and wanted to make sure they got the hint with this last attack.

Gible looked at her opponent fiercely as she began charging the attack for the third time that day, only this time she put more power into it than she ever had before and pretty soon there was a larger than average orb of red energy in her mouth before she launched it.

The resulting dragon shaped beam was almost three times as big as it had been before and the crooks and lone Pokémon could only watch as it sped towards them before it hit Ekans and exploded with a loud 'BOOM', launching said crooks and Pokémon into the air and into the distance.

Oddly enough Ash could barely make out three voices saying, "Team Rocket's blasting off!" before they were silenced. (1)

Despite this, Ash was awed once more at the shocking display of power his little Gible had at her disposal and had to remind himself; again, that she already had more power than average due to having been trained up before her abandonment.

Turning to look at his small starter Ash was once again shocked at the look of surprise that she herself wore as she surveyed the left over crater her attack had caused, which was pretty large and had taken out a fair few trees as well. Could Gible really be that powerful without even knowing it?

Her shock was only momentary though and she turned to Ash with a large grin and ran to him and sprang up to his head where she clamped down on it with her teeth.

Crying out in a mix of surprise, laughter and a small amount of pain, Ash looked up at his partner. "That was great Gible!" he exclaimed. "I don't see how your old trainer could of let you go, because if that wasn't strong then I don't know what was!"

Although slightly saddened at the reminder of her old trainer, Gible grinned happily and tightened her teeth against Ash's head to show it.

They were broken out of their little moment by a pained groan from behind them and they turned to the Pokémon they had been protecting and winced at the condition it was in.

The Pokémon was a small blue quadrupedal creature with black fur covering its head and neck, concealing everything but its mouth from view. The hair on its head was spiked into a small horn like structure and it had a short tail. However, that was about as much as either of the duo was able to make out, as the rest of the Pokémon was covered in numerous cuts, bruises and what looked to be blood, both old and new.

Ash's eyes widened, now he realized where he had seen this Pokémon from; he'd seen several pictures of it in his when he was studying about Dragon types!

"A Deino?" he muttered to himself before the seriousness of the situation hit him. He needed to help the poor thing in any way he could, he needed to get it to a Pokecenter.

Deino 'eyed' the human carefully as he knelt before him. Even though he had 'seen' how he had protected him, he was still being cautious.

Ash smiled gently down at the injured creature and reached into his back pocket to bring out a pokeball and held it out to Deino. Already expanded.

"Hey Deino," he started as his grin turned a little regret full. "I wish there was a better way for me to do this, but you need to get to a Pokecenter fast and I can only get you there fast enough is if you let me catch you. You can choose if you want to stay with me or not after you're all healed. Is that alright with you?"

Deino continued to stare at him for a few more seconds before sighing and extending his neck just enough for his forehead to touch the button at the pokeball's center, allowing it to suck him into it in a red beam of energy.

He gave no fight against the process and the ball immediately pinged to show a complete capture.

_'I'm sorry Deino, I really am, but this is the only way.' _Ash thought, sighing softly as he stood and looked up to Gible, who he noticed was looking more than a little worn out as well. "You should rest up some too girl. You've had a long day." he told her as he pulled her pokeball from the belt around his waist.

Gible smiled a grateful smile and allowed Ash to return her to her ball for a nice rest.

Ash sighed again as he stowed Gible's ball back on his belt and took off in the direction he knew Viridian City to be in.

* * *

**1.) Forgive me, but I could not possibly resist adding in the three stooges there.**

* * *

**And cut!**

**Wow that took a bit of time to figure out how to get right.**

**So both Pikachu and Deino join Ash and Gible. The reason for Pikachu was because several people have asked for him to be in this and I really couldn't deny them that as I myself am a major Pikachu fan and it wouldn't feel right if the little guy was not with Ash. As for Deino, well he wasn't really my first choice for that scene but he kinda popped into my head right when I started the chapter and I couldn't write it any other way without it sounding wrong.**

**I hope the battles were to everyone's liking as I have no experience when it comes to writing them.**

**As promised here's the list of Ash's first five catches.**

** Pikachu**

**Deino**

**Squirtle**

**Bulbasaur**

**Charmander (Shiny)**

**Ash will have more Pokemon then he caught in cannon as the challenge asks, but the rest of them will be announced as the story progresses. **

**And it might be awhile before the next one comes out as I've recently been thinking of watching the Pokémon anime since I'm a bit out of touch with the original story line.**

**See ya next time and please review!**


	3. A Meeting and A Decision

**I would like to thank SighDuck for helping me with this chapter and checking/fixing the errors I missed.**

**Yo everyone! Here's the latest installation for A Different Journey its not entirely finished yet, but I figured that I should post this much at least as I'm starting a new job today and I'll be busier than ever for the next few weeks.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Meeting and A Decision**

Ash ran down the streets of Viridian City, quickly making his way to the Pokémon Center. After a solid two hours of running he'd finally made it to the city. Ash could only thank Arceus for the long hours he'd spent running through the forest surrounding his hometown when he was younger. It had made him as fit as he was now, and only that and his determination to help his Pokémon had enabled him to make the long journey.

Ash's leg muscles ached from overuse and his lungs screamed for air, but he knew he couldn't stop to catch his breath. Deino was counting on him to make it to the Pokémon center as soon as possible. Ash knew that should he fail then Deino's condition would worsen and the Pokémon could possibly die from the amount of injuries the crooks had inflicted upon it. That was not something he would let happen and his pace did not let up as he sped through the streets, nearly knocking over several bystanders as he did so.

Rounding a corner, Ash finally spotted the large building of the Poke-center and quickly made his way inside. Bursting through the doors, he skid to a halt in front of the desk, behind which sat the town's resident Nurse Joy.

Ash was panting up a storm, hunched over and leaning heavily on the desk in an attempt to catch his breath. Despite this, he thrust the Pokeball in his hand into the bewildered nurse's face before she even had a chance to voice any questions.

"Poachers….Pokémon….hurt badly….please…help it." He managed through large gasps of air.

Nurse Joy's eyes widened drastically when she heard this and she immediately sprang into action. Taking the ball out of Ash's outstretched hand, Joy quickly called for several of her helpers, which turned out to be a few Chansey.

"We'll do our best," she assured him, rushing into what Ash assumed to be the operating room with the Chansey. His assumption was proven correct when the red light above the door came to life not a second after they had entered.

Still panting from his long run, Ash turned and made his way over one of the nearby tables to wait for word on Deino's condition. He decided- with no small amount of regret- that Gible and Pikachu could wait to be looked after until Deino was in a more stable condition. They were in better shape and would need very little healing in comparison.

Groaning as he sat down at the table, Ash stretched his sore limbs out and gave a pleasant sigh when he felt several of his joints pop.

A yawn escaped his lips as he rested his head on the table. Now that Deino was being looked after he decided to get some rest himself. All that running had tired him out quite a bit and the cushioned seat of his chair was starting to feel mighty comfortable right then; it didn't take long before Ash found himself surrendering to the blissful unconsciousness that was sleep.

xXx

"Excuse me, sir?" a voice asked as Ash felt himself being shaken awake.

It only felt like a few minutes had passed between when he had first closed his eyes and now, as he blearily looked up to see someone shaking his shoulder. Yawning tiredly, Ash peered up into the smiling face of the Center's Nurse Joy.

"Yes?" he asked, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for waking you, sir. But you'll be happy to know that we've taken good care of your Deino and it's now well on its way to recovery," Nurse Joy said, causing him to smile slightly.

"Thank you," Ash replied, bowing his head in gratitude.

Nurse Joy waved it off. "No thanks needed. It's what I'm here for, after all," she said with a grin in place, turning to leave. Before she could, Ash stopped her by calling out.

"Excuse me, Nurse Joy?"

She turned to face him again. "Yes? Something else?"

Sighing, Ash unclipped Gible and Pikachu's Pokeballs from his belt and held them out to her. "If you could also take a look at these two I'd appreciate it," he said, grimacing. "When I came in I was so set on getting Deino to help that I almost forgot about them."

The nurse nodded in understanding before taking the balls out of his hand. "Understandable, all things considering. Just give me a small bit of time and they'll be back in fighting shape." She paused and took in his exhausted appearance. "If you want, we have rooms available for trainers who wish to stay someplace warm for the night," Joy informed him.

"That would be great, thanks," Ash told her as he once again felt his exhaustion catching up to him. Nurse Joy smiled again at him and fished a Key out of the pocket of her pink dress.

"Not a problem and here's the key to your room. Your Pokémon should be ready for you to pick up in the morning and Deino should be ready to leave by then as well."

Taking the key from her, Ash smiled gratefully to the nurse and they parted; Nurse Joy to heal up the exhausted Pokémon and Ash to a warm bed where he could rest comfortably, finally free from the worries that came with Deino's injuries.

Sighing as he used the key to open the matching door, Ash immediately headed for the bed at the far end and plopped onto it, only taking enough time to rid himself of his backpack and shoes. Almost instantly, he was fast asleep.

xXx

Around the same time as Ash was settling in for sleep, a screen came to life in a dark room. It showed a figure covered in shadows staring down at its audience of three.

_"Jessie, James, Meowth. Report; what is the current situation on the _package_?"_

Gulping, one of the figures took a step forward and bowed to the man on the screen. "Forgive us, sir. But the mission was a failure and the package managed to get away. We pursued it of course, and we were able to subdue it once more. However, a trainer was nearby and came across us just as we were to take possession of it again. We had a brief battle, but the trainer and his Pokémon, a Gible, managed to defeat us and got away with the package." The figure spoke in a feminine voice tinged with much regret and a small bit of fear.

All was silent as the man on the screen processed this, making all three figures nervous as what was visible of his face grew more and more angry by the second.

_"So, the package managed to get away, did it?" _he asked rhetorically, continuing on before they could reaffirm it._ "That is totally unacceptable! Allowing such a rare creature such as that to escape, even with the help of a Gible and its trainer is inexcusable! I expected better from three of my top agents."_

The three cowered under the anger of their leader and bowed deeply to him. One of them, the male of the group, spoke up, "That's the thing, sir! The Gible, it is far more powerful than what it logically should have been! The last attack it used, Dragon Rage, was by far the largest of its kind I have ever seen. It was three times bigger than average at the very least!"

This seemed to interest the leader for a moment before he spoke again. _"Is that so? If that indeed is the case then I have another job for you three."_

Three heads shot up at this.

_"The three of you are to track the trainer down and bring me his Gible. If it is more powerful than average then I may very well have a use for it. At the very least I could make a profit out of it; the Gible line are not native to Kanto and hold a significant monetary value to the right people. Can I trust you three with this?"_

"Yes sir!"

The man nodded, _"Very well. I expect to hear of your success within a few weeks. And remember, Team Rocket does not tolerate failure and you are on very thin ice as it is. Do not fail again."_ Abruptly, the screen cut to black.

One of the figures, who were now revealed to have been the ones to have run into Ash and Gible earlier, turned to her teammate. "Do you know what this means, James? We have the chance to make up for our failure with that Deino!"

The man, now known as James, nodded to his female companion. "I do, Jessie. We had better not waste this opportunity. You know what happens when someone fails the boss."

Jessie shivered in fear. She'd heard stories of people who failed the boss being called to his office at HQ and never coming back out again. It was not a pleasant thought to occupy.

"Well, whatever the cost, we have to capture that twerp's Pokémon. With any luck he'll have that Deino with him too. Can you imagine the reward if we get both Gible and the Deino from him? The boss might just give us promotions!"

The voice that spoke up came not from any one of the two humans, but of the small cat like Pokémon standing behind them. Turning to Meowth, Jesse and James saw that he had a large grin on his face at the prospect- a smile they quickly mirrored.

"It's decided! We are capturing both Gible and Deino!" he exclaimed but thought, _'That'll show that arrogant Persian who the real top cat of Team Rocket is!'_

xXx

"Alright you guys, come on out!"

The sound of three Poke-balls opening rang through the early morning air of Viridian City.

Ash smiled at the sight of his three Pokémon as they appeared in front of him in flashes of light.

Upon noticing she was out, Gible jumped up and bit onto her trainer's head with a happy cry, causing Ash to both laugh at her antics and wince slightlyHe still wasn't used to her bites.

However, while Gible was happy to see him, Pikachu and Deino were other stories.

Almost immediately after releasing him from his ball, Ash noticed that Deino was acting reserved in the way he reacted in his presence and stood on his short legs gingerly; Ash winced at the many bandages that littered the dragon type's body, especially the one wrapped around his head.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had locked a glare on Ash and had started to spark its cheeks at him. That had the raven haired boy worried as he was unsure of what he had done to earn the little mouse's ire.

Choosing to ignore his sole electric-type for right now, Ash turned his attention on to the one he'd rescued the previous day and knelt before him.

"Hey there little guy," he greeted with a kind grin. "I've held up my end of the bargain and got you all healed. Now, it's time for you to choose what you want to do from here. If you want you can stay with me, or you can go your own way. It's your choice and I'm not gonna force you to stay if you don't want to."

Deino stared at the ground; well, as far as Ash knew anyway because in reflection he wasn't sure if the Pokémon even had eyes.

From what Deino gathered, he had two choices. One, he could go with the human that had rescued him from those other humans who hurt him and train to get stronger so he could battle and win for his trainer. Or two, he could choose to go out on his own, in a strange land he knew next to nothing about, and risk coming across those crooks again.

_{If it helps, Ash has been very considerate towards me. I'm sure that he'll be the same for you.}_ At this Deino looked up to 'see' that Gible had jumped down from Ash's head and was now standing before him.

_{I know, and that's why I've chosen to stay,} _he replied, smiling softly at his fellow dragon type before walking up to Ash and nuzzling his face against his hand when he reached out with it.

"De, no, Deino," he told the boy.

"I take it this means that you want to stay with me?" Ash asked him and had a feeling that whatever Gible had said had helped in the decision. Deino nodded without stopping his nuzzling.

Grinning happily at this, Ash patted the quadruped Pokémon on the head. "Welcome to the team Deino."

As the Pokémon nodded with a grin, Ash sighed and turned to face the third member of his group, who was still glaring at him.

"Now, what am I to do with you?"

xXx

Cynthia was no normal girl- at least by most people's standards- and she was well aware of this fact.

Even when she was a child it was clear to her that she wasn't like the other kids, and she had several reasons to confirm it, her love of strange ice-cream flavors aside. The first was that she had always had a strange ability to solve riddles with a relative sense of ease that even some of the adults she knew would have a large amount of difficulty solving. Second was that she found mythology and history extremely interesting, where many girls her age would find such subjects boring and unimportant. However, none of those were main reasons as to why Cynthia felt that she was not normal.

That reason was that there was a weird….pulling? Yes, pulling was the right word. Something was often pulling on her mind as of late. It was like it was trying to direct her somewhere, and she had a feeling that it wasn't anywhere near her home region of Sinnoh.

But despite all this, Cynthia had managed to live her life with a sense of normality and had recently turned the proper age to receive her starter and begin her own journey. She was excited to start her adventure with her new Pokémon, but its beginning hadn't been in the brightest of lights.

She'd gotten to Professor Rowan's lab late the day before and had only gotten there in time to see the last of the Pokémon being claimed. Cynthia had been told she'd have to wait a few days for a new set of beginner Pokémon to be ready, which was not want she wanted to hear. Just the prospect of having to postpone her journey had tossed Cynthia's mood into an all time low and she had been on te verge of begging the lab assistant speaking to her for any Pokémon available. At that point she wouldn't have cared what one she received, just as long as she got one.

Professor Rowan had come to her rescue just then in the form of a small shark-like Pokémon that had just been found close to the lab. He'd also said that he'd just helped one of his colleagues solve a similar problem to her own in one of the other regions. The professor cryptically told her that it was only fitting that he fix the problem in his own region with the same Pokémon.

Like any young teenager her age, Cynthia had eagerly accepted it without a second thought and had rushed out of the lab for her home to tell her grandmother the news.

So imagine her surprise when her grandmother told her that before she could start her journey, she'd be accompanying her to Viridian City somewhere in the region of Kanto to visit some friends, instantly increasing the tugging on her mind at the mention of the far off region. With this in mind, and even if she was relatively ticked that her journey really would be postponed, Cynthia had reluctantly agreed as she would get to spend time with both her grandmother and little sister, something she rarely got to do. Family came first after all, as much as it hurt to admit it. They were all Cynthia had after all.

Though, once she got to Kanto a small problem had presented itself to the girl. She didn't know what her Pokémon was capable of, and how was she to be expected to work with the little guy if she didn't know what he could do?

So here she was, approaching one of the many training areas in the city when she felt the tug on her mind once more flare up and a voice cry out.

"No, Pikachu, don't you dar-ZAPP-gahh!"

Eyes widening in worry, Cynthia hurried her pace towards the field,

Never noticing the shimmer in the air behind her as something invisible watched on...

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**And cut!**

**Once again I would like to thank SighDuck for editing this chapter.**

**Please review**


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